US carbon black producer Cabot (Boston, Massachusetts; www.cabot-corp.com) has broken ground on its previously announced expansion in Cilegon / Indonesia – see Plasteurope.com of 25.05.2018. The company said this phase of the project adds approximately 80,000 t/y of carbon black production capacity, which is expected to be completed in 2021. The new capacity is to serve the Indonesian market and also supply Southeast Asia, where demand for carbon black in this region is said to be growing 4-5% annually.

The expansion in Indonesia forms a part of the company’s global expansion plans announced in 2018. Through plant expansion, operational improvements and debottlenecking, the goal is to grow its global carbon black production capacity by 300,000 t/y. At the time, Cabot said altogether an additional 160,000 t/y are expected to be put into place in Cilegon.

In Europe, the US company’s project includes plants in Ravenna / Italy, Botlek / The Netherlands, Valašské Meziříčí / Czech Republic and Port Jérôme / France. The European measures are expected to add 150,000 t/y of capacity by 2021.